Use Four Acts to Get Through the Murky Middle

Focus on the Midpoint

When I outline a novel or graphic novel, I love to reference Save the Cat. If you’re not familiar with this plotting method, it’s based on screenplays and breaks a movie into Act 1 (the first 25% of the book), Act 2 (the next 50%), and Act 3 (the last 25%).

I more or less stick to this, except I put even more emphasis on the midpoint.

A strong midpoint not only gives the reader a high-impact scene to break up the long slog of the middle, but it’s a great chance to change up gears. In fact, I try to make this moment so huge that it effectively breaks that long Act 2 into two acts, so each of the four acts is 25% of the book.*

Act=Goal

To do that, I think of each act as a goal for the MC. Act=goal.

So, in a sense, the flow of a novel could look like this:

• Act 1: the MC is pursuing a goal, one that makes sense for their ordinary world. Then a catalyst happens to either put that goal in jeopardy or catapult it forward.
• Act 2: Reacting to that catalyst, the MC sets forth to achieve a new goal. Then another catalyst happens (the Midpoint) that either puts that goal in jeopardy or catapults it forward.
• Act 3: repeat, bringing us to the All is Lost moment, which is the catalyst for the last act.
• Act 4: reacting to the All is Lost, the MC makes a final goal.

Sometimes the catalyst in each act is subtle. Sometimes it’s an accumulation of things learned in the act up to that point. Sometimes it’s huge, like a bombshell of information. Whatever it is, each catalyst prevents the MC from continuing to pursue the goal that they are currently on; they have to change gears.

Examples

Star Wars

Let’s look at how this works in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Act 1

• Goal: Set up droids on the farm.
• Catalyst: Ben Kenobi asks Luke to go with him to Alderaan and Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed, making his Act 1 goal of getting the droids set up on the farm irrelevant.

Act 2

• Goal: Get the plans to Alderaan.
• Catalyst: The Death Star blows up Alderaan and captures the Millennium Falcon.

Our Star Wars heroes are about to discover that they cannot achieve their Act 2 goal.

Act 3

• Goal: Rescue the princess from the Death Star
• Catalyst: They escape, but the Death Star follows them to the hidden rebel base.

Act 4

• Goal: Destroy the Death Star to save the rebel base.
• Result: Luke destroys the Death Star.

Other Examples

Movies:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (this goal shift is huge, as Indy’s goal goes from finding the Ark to getting it back from the Nazis; in fact, the entire second half of the movie is Indy trying to get and keep the Ark from the Nazis)
• Monsters, Inc. (this is subtle, but Sully switches from wanting to save his career to wanting to save Boo, a goal shift that causes conflict with Mike)
• Lion King
• Up

Books: The Last Mapmaker and A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat are great examples of the main character’s goal shifting in at the midpoint.

Does It Really Matter?

I don’t think it matters to the reader whether you outline your story with a goal change in the middle, as long as the story moves along. But as the writer, I find splitting up that long middle to be incredibly helpful for getting through the murky middle. Basically, it’s chunking up a huge task into two more manageably sized tasks.

For example, imagine you’re writing Star Wars. Woud it be easier to plot if you had a list of goals for Luke that were:

1. Set up droids on the farm
2. Get plans to the rebel alliance
3. Destroy the Death Star and save the rebels

Or:

1. Set up droids on the farm
2. Get plans to Alderaan
3. Rescue the rebel princess and escape to the rebel base
4. Destroy the Death Star and save the rebels

You could interpret Star Wars either way, but personally, I would find the second to be much easier to build a story around. The specificity helps me to keep the middle of the book moving along. It would give me something more concrete to write toward.

I can think of many stories that do not approach the Midpoint this way. (I can think of many that don’t even really have a Midpoint shift). But if you’re stuck in the murky middle, try breaking that long Act 2 into two goals, and give each a catalyst that disrupts that goal.

*For more information on four-act stories, click here to read about Joyce Sweeney’s plot clock.

Katie Venit

As a kid, whenever Katie Venit visited one of the Smithsonian's museums near her home in Maryland, she would look for the best place to sleep. (Tip: it's almost always an exhibit with a cave.) Now, as the author of picture books (FORTS and CASSINI'S MISSION) and middle grade books, Katie lives in Wisconsin where she has taught her kids to do the same whenever they go to museums. Best to be prepared. Check out her website at www.katievenit.com.